It's A Madhouse Here
by High Summoner Sakura
Summary: Zanzo is a medical institution for the rich and influential. Sakura has been living here for 10 years and now wants to tell her story.
1. A Little Background

A/N: Right, so I'm back. TCBR is still undecided right now as to whether I'm going to continue it. But I suppose with so many reviews and such I'll continue it. The first chapter is more of a background than anything else, but then we get into the really good stuff. Thanks for checking it out!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Please don't sue.

_Zanzo (残像): N. An afterimage; imprint._

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This place is a madhouse. A mere institution more concerned in observing the responses of their patients rather than actually helping them. Or at least that was the way that floor S was run.

I'm never coming back to this place if I ever get out. Ever. Once I got out, theoretically, I would do everything in my power to stay out. But I suppose that goes without saying. The people here can barely survive their required sentence of three years. Try living in this place for 10. I don't know why I've been here for so long—the experiments were supposed to only last 4 years—but one thing I do know. I'm getting out in whatever way I can.

Of course, your way of getting out is far different from mine. You want to get out the confines of these walls to the world beyond. I don't have any desire for that. After being in such a place for a large majority of my life, I have no confidence in my ability to live outside of these walls. The sort of freedom that I am talking about is far different. My freedom requires contact with death. A partnership with death to be exact. To have it welcome me with open arms, in exchange for a complete amnesia of my time here. I would do anything for this kind of freedom.

Right, I bet that you're wondering who I am. My name is Haruno Sakura, 16 years old. I've been living here since I was 6 years old. That's really all that you need to know about me at this point. You'll learn more about me at a later point. How about I start out with how I got to Zanzo?

My introduction to Zanzo was long and confusing. I was not like the other "patients" at Zanzo. I had not killed someone, or committed some sort of moral sin against man. I was merely born into an unfortunate family, and I was their only way out.

The family that I was born into was a normal lower-class family. My mother and father worked long days to support their 3 children. I was the eldest, being 6, and took care of my siblings while my parents were at work. Every day I would pick my twin brother and sister up from day care, walk home, prepare dinner while they played with their toys, do my homework while they ate, read them a story and put them to bed. Then, if I still had more homework, I would finish that and make some plates for when my parents came home.

It seemed that we were forever going to live like this for the rest of our lives, which I didn't mind. We were happy the way that we were. While we might not have had much, it was enough. But one meeting with a well-dressed man, everything changed. That meeting was the start of my downward spiral.

Apparently my pink hair, something that had never happened before in my family, had attracted some attention. This man was the head of a genetic research project, and he wanted me to be a subject. In return for the un-conditional revoking of their child, they would provide my family with enough money for them to live an above average life for them and the coming generations. All they needed to do was sign a contract.

It was with this agreement that they handed me to this man. A man, who I later learned was named Kabuto, that later became my main caretaker. I became part of a twisted set of experiments, that I'm not so sure had anything to do with genetics. What my pink hair had to do with any of the experiments that I participated in, I have no idea.

By now, I'm sure you're wondering how such an institution could exist. Of course, Zanzo was not publicly conducting this project. In fact, I'm positive that no more than ¼ of the staff knew that any of this was going on; and of that only half of them knew the details of what was happening. On the surface, Zanzo was a normal institution. Many people probably walked out of the sliding doors, a new and better person. Zanzo was also quite a high-class business. Many patients were famous: politicians, idols, etcetera. Not only does this provide Zanzo with an amazing amount of income—which they can use to buy equipment for their experiments—grateful politicians turned a blind eye to the happenings and supported the experiments.

Why would they be grateful? Pushing aside the fact that Zanzo helped cure them of whatever problem they had, it also has the most amazing privacy policy. If a reporter were to come in, Zanzo requires that you make an appointment at least 24 hours in advance, they then notify the person that is going to be visited and if they wish to not meet with the person, Zanzo will tell them that they are unable to come. Before you are admitted, the institution will ask you whether or not you would like people to know if you are here. If you answer no, then they will deny having you here, even in the face of police. They have enough power that they don't have to fear the law in these cases. Thus, many politicians come here, they don't want the public to know that they have a drinking problem or that their schizophrenia is out of control.

Getting back to how they get away with this, they have the backing of so many powerful people, they have no need to worry about the police coming to infiltrate their labs. It is one of—if not the—most powerful businesses in the state of Japan. Sort of scary, huh?

This isn't what I wanted to focus on. What I want to focus on it perhaps one of my most memorable times in Zanzo. This is the first time that I'm going to go so in depth about my stay at Zanzo, so bear with me.

I can sense some of you wondering if I'm now dead or alive, in or out of Zanzo, happy or suicidal. I won't tell you that until the end. You can decide for yourself if my ending is happy or sad.

This is me. This is my story.

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A/N: Eh, it's short. Like I said, the next chapter will be good. This was competing with 2 other stories, a one-shot based off musical lyrics, and a four-shot based off a music box. Those should come out at some point.

I'm taking requests on one-shots! That's right, requests! Put the pairing and your favorite song in a PM and send it! I'll make you a one-of-a-kind High Summoner Sakura one-shot.

As always please review, your feedback means everything to me.

Ja ne!


	2. Experiment 1

A/N: Yup, new chapter. I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: This author does not own Naruto.

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Sakura woke up laying down in a room that she had never seen before, which was odd. Having been here for so long, she thought that she knew every room in the entire building. She supposed she was wrong, it seems like there are still some surprises left in this building's structure. Sakura thought she had seen it all with the revolving bookcase and the wall melding into a door. What next, teleporters from room to room? She opted not to think about it, they might start getting weird ideas.

Sitting up, she scratched the back of her neck and was met with the feeling of cold hard metal instead of skin. Recoiling, she felt all the way around her neck and found that she had now acquired a new steel necklace, with a small ring for god knows what reason. Things like this no longer shocked her, she often woke up with some weird new addition. She was grateful that this new addition, unlike so many in the past, caused her no immediate physical pain. Only some slight discomfort, but that didn't really bother her.

The feeling of being watched caused Sakura to look around at the room. At first glance there was nothing, but then she saw what seemed to be a huge wall to wall mirror. She disregarded that, it was probably a one-way mirror for them to observe her. It seemed like there was going to be a new breech of her privacy. These rooms were usually the only place where she could have any small resemblance of privacy. Now that was gone, how wonderful.

Shaking it off, she tried to remember what had happened before she passed out. All that she could recall was being led out of her previous room, into and experiment room, a sharp pain, then nothing. The pinkette hated these sorts of times; it meant that they had probably done something that would have some sort of lasting effect. Sometimes these were painful, and other times they were just odd. Either way, she tried to avoid these situations whenever possible.

"Hello little Sakura-chan."

The girl wheeled around and shot a glare at the invader. He stepped towards her and she instinctively took a step back. The man clicked his tongue at her action.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, just stay where you are and let me preform the examination."

He took another step towards her and she again stepped back. The man smiled slightly and Sakura felt a shock of pain. He took another step towards her and she lifted her leg to take another step back and got another shock, this one higher in intensity. Sakura glared at Kabuto, who merely chuckled in response.

"I warned you not to disobey me. Now you have to face the consequences."

He walked towards her and held his hand out. She grudgingly put her wrist in his outstretched hand. He put his fingers on her artery and measured her pulse.

"Have you felt any odd pains or other abnormal sensations since you woke up?"

Sakura went to say no, but found herself unable to speak. Horrified she tried again to speak and found that her voice would not come out. Kabuto stepped forward in interest and tapped his pen on his cheek. Sakura gave him a terrified look, one that he had not seen in a long time, a few years at least. This made him even more interested in her predicament. He took note of the problem and her reaction and looked back at her to see her pupils dilating with the amount of alarm that she was in. this alarmed the male, for he knew what her next cause of action would be.

Quickly he snapped his fingers and almost immediately the door opened and two guards ran in. they instantly cuffed her hands with the plastic cuffs and quickly lifted her off the ground. Kabuto quickly led them out of the room and into an examination room, talking into an earpiece the whole time. She was tossed into the chair, un-cuffed, and quickly strapped to the chair with plastic restraints. They stepped back to the wall and were immediately replaced by Kabuto.

By this point, Sakura had calmed down, and was more worried about what they were going to do to her than the fact that she had no voice. Her voice was the only thing that she had with her when she was alone. For them to know that and then take it away from her was frightening to the girl. Of course, after she calmed down a bit, Sakura realized that they couldn't have known how precious her voice was to her. It must have been a side effect to the last experiment that they performed.

None of this really mattered because she had let her emotions take over and had panicked Kabuto. Now she was back in an examining room sooner than she would have expected. A quick look at their faces showed that they had no intention of sedating her before they began. Everyone was far too hurried. Inwardly Sakura scolded herself for her momentary lapse in control.

One of the doctors glanced at a sheet on the back of the door and froze. Slowly he called to his colleagues. Sakura could almost see his hair stand on end.

"We have to switch rooms. Now."

Kabuto looked up from his tray, exasperated. He did not have time for some minor problem.

"We are not switching rooms Migozo. Anyone that comes in here has a high enough clearance to do so. I'm the head doctor here, they'll have sense enough to find another room once they see me."

Migozo shook his head, urgent and insistent.

"Really, we have to move. This room is already reserved."

"That doesn't matter. Once they see us in here they'll find another room."

"Put the patient it's reserved for is—"

The door opened and everyone froze. Sakura craned her head from her seat and could only make out long black hair before everyone began to move at once. Kabuto immediately blocked her view of him and began to unstrap her while shouting orders.

"Hold him down! Get Kakashi! You're not moving fast enough!"

Sakura blinked and found Kabuto thrown out of her vision and herself face-to-face with crimson eyes. These eyes weren't exactly crimson, but something so much deeper and more intense than that. They pierced her, and she felt as if her very being was being scrutinized. Sakura wanted to look anywhere but those horrible eyes, but she just couldn't. It was an eclipse of her entire being and it terrified her. It was as though she was being absorbed by these eyes and there was nothing that she could do about it.

He lifted his hand and lightly touched her cheek, like a butterfly wing brushing against her. Then he was jerked out of her vision and she could see that the room had become a hive. Every available worker was pouring into the room to keep this man under control. Kabuto was practically yelling into an ear piece, trying to get the actual S-level guards to arrive.

Sakura had yet to process what was really happening. It was as though every time she blinked, the entire room changed. The plastic cuffs that held her to the chair were cut and almost instantly replaced with a normal pair. She was lifted out of their chairs and spirited out of the room.

"Get her out of here, but above all, keep her safe!"

The man wasn't even letting her run on her own legs. He was just carrying her like there was no tomorrow. The doors around Sakura were like no other she had seen in the building before. These were thin and easily breakable. This must be the normal ward, where the politically influential stayed.

They abruptly came to a stop and the man gently let her down. While he was breathing completely normally, Sakura found herself panting heavily. He placed his hands on her shoulders gently and the action almost caused Sakura to stop breaking. No one touched her in a friendly manner, ever. Teasing perhaps, mocking, but not friendly.

"Just take a deep breath. Breathe, that's right. There you go."

Once her breathing calmed, she stepped back to try and get out of his grip. Kakashi (she read his nametag), mistook her actions, stepped backwards with her. They continued this strange dance until Sakura's back hit the wall. She looked pointedly at his hands and he gave her a puzzled look before realizing what he was doing.

"Oh right."

He let go of her and accidentally hit her upper arm in the progress, eliciting a hiss of pain from Sakura. Frowning slightly, he lifted up the white sleeve that covered her upper arm. An angry bruise stared back at him and he looked at Sakura's handcuffs to find her number.

"Shit, S-level? What the hell are you doing on S-level?"

Sakura shrugged and shifted her hands in the cuffs uncomfortably.

"Damn, they're keeping more things from me than I thought if you're there. They only send the really bad people there."

He threw one more glance at Sakura and sighed, leaving the subject.

"Well let's get you to a room and take those cuffs off."

He nudged Sakura towards the direction of S-level. The doors slowly got thicker and the locks heavier. They came to the first room in S-level and Sakura realized why she had never been in this room. She was hardly even allowed to come this close to the division between C-level and S-level. The researchers had always made sure that she was kept deep in the depths of S-level.

"Here you go."

Kakashi opened her door and ushered her in. he quickly undid her cuffs and left her. Sakura hardly had enough time to rub her wrists before Kabuto slammed the door open. He strode in and Sakura only took one step back before she received a large shock from the collar. Her muscles stiffened in reaction and Kabuto closed the distance between them in three steps. Sakura closed her eyes and braced herself for whatever it was that Kabuto was going to do.

The silver-haired male gently grabbed her chin with his thumb and index finger and gently turned her head from one side to the other. Lifting his other hand, he ran his fingers gently over her entire face. After running both hands down her arms and making a thorough examination, he breathed a small sigh of relief. He pulled her into a hug and Sakura stiffened even more, turning completely into stone.

"Thank god you have no damage on you. After all the work we've done, for any of it to have been shattered would have been horrible."

Of course she was only a commodity. Had he said anything else she would have become slightly worried.

"Here you go."

Sakura's mouth was forced open and a thin, bitter liquid was poured down her throat.

"Swallow," he demanded, while holding her mouth closed.

Knowing there was no other choice, she swallowed the bitter liquid and Kabuto let go of her mouth. He looked out a clipboard and began taking notes.

"Say something."

"Something."

The older male smirked and continued to take notes. After a few minutes he turned and left the room. Sakura slumped against a wall and held her throat, glad to have her voice back. She got up and walked to the mirrored wall. As hard as she looked, all she could see was her own reflection. Maybe it was actually only a regular mirror after all, and they were just trying to mess with her. Lifting her hands up, she waved, then chuckled at her stupidity.

* * *

Kabuto sat at the head of a large oblong table, facing her colleagues.

"What happened today?"

"I was careless and put experiment 725872 into a room that was previously reserved for Madara."

"So is she completely mutilated now?"

"He had a rather interesting reaction. After throwing nearly everyone in the room to get close to her, he just touched her. Not in a menacing manner either."

"How interesting."

"Are you going to propose a new experiment Kabuto?"

"I want to know the different reactions with our newly acquired wards."

"Approved. Put the youngest Uchiha in the room next to hers. If anything goes wrong he'll be the easiest to control out of all the new wards."

"Understood, we'll move him tomorrow."

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A/N: Ha! New chapter done! Thank you for reading and please review.


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